(meteorobs) Question- point me in the right direction

[Roberto G.]

> Good Morning,
> 
> 
> Not a meteor topic, but somewhat related, if anyone can point me in a 
> direction, that would be great.
> 
> Yesterday I started re-reading Burnham' Celestial Handbook, on 
> another topic (variable stars), but as I was going through the 
> beginning pages, it referenced Comet Burnham 1959K.
> 
> Does anyone know its type of comet, orbit, will we see it again? I 
> did a search on google, and came across some reference to papers -but 
> the abstracts are not available, and just testimonials of seeing the 
> comet.
> 
> Can someone point me in the direction of this comet, it looks very 
> close to Comet Swan , which came not to long ago. 
> 
> Any help would be great. Its always good to go back and reread the 
> favourite books.
> 
> Kim Hay

Hello Kim,

it not exist a comet Burnham 1959K, first because the letter K must to
be follow by a number, second at this time the comets was named with
the year and a number in roman letter (exemple 1959 VIII).

There are 4 comet discovered or codiscovered by Burnham around that 
time (1959) they are:

C/1958 D1     old name 1958 a     1958 III
C/1958 R1                    1958 e     1959 I
C/1959 Y1                    1959 k     1960 II
C/1960 B1                    1960 a     1959 VII

then we can understand that 1959K was in reality 1959k the temporary 
name of the comet now named C/1959 Y1, this comet has a hyperbolic 
orbit then it never come newly near the Sun.
Best greetings.
Roberto Gorelli